Author: waltterihatulainen

Total plays

860 plays – only 27 a day which is less than half of usual. Haven’t been able to listen to nearly as much music in the army as I’d like but that’s to be assumed. I’m still looking for a good balance for listening to music I really like and trying to discover new music now that I have less time for it.

Artists

398 different artists, top five being:

1. Sabaton – 32 plays

2. Haloo Helsinki – 28 plays

3. InFlames – 27 plays

3. Jeff Williams -27 plays

5. Arctic Monkeys – 21 playsSaw the top two live at the end of June and looks like it carried them to the top. Glad to see a Finnish artist there, I’ve been getting more and more into Haloo Helsinki and I’m thinking I have to go to just their concert in the future.

Songs

646 different ones, no big numbers this month since I only listened to 860 songs total, either way here’s top five.

1. Danny Schmidt – This too shall pass, 9 plays. Found this thanks to the podcast welcome to Night Vale, which for the record is an amazing podcast, and this song deserves to be heard so many times more.

2. The boss hoss – Last day (do or die), 7 plays. The chorus of this song, man is it good. The song gets better the further into it you get.

3. Sabaton – Swedish pagans, 6 plays. The hypest non-Finland-related song from the concert. An amazing live song with thousands of fans chanting, would recommend checking a live version on youtube.

4. Haloo Helsinki – Vapaus käteen jää, 5 plays. On top of this being a phenomenal song I’ve listened to this with some irony. The song is about how even when you lose everything and shit’s hit the fan, you’ll always have your freedom to do what you want. And well I think I’ve already mentioned I haven’t been able to listen to as much music as I’d like on top of other things I can’t do while in the army so the song kind of doesn’t apply there.4. Sabaton – White death, 5 plays. Probably the loudest song at the concert. A song about the legendary Simo Häyhä will make a Finnish crowd go crazy 100% of the time. This is just an amazing power metal song so as always, highly recommended.

Total plays

2,482 – That’s about 159 hours or six and a half days. I did a whole lot of nothing all June which gave me more than enough time to listen to tunes, mostly while playing games.

Artists

578 unique artists with the coveted top 5 being:

1. Jeff Williams – 134 plays

2. Sabaton – 107

3. In Flames – 67

4. Arctic Monkeys – 58

5. Anti-Flag – 54

High numbers this month, top spot goes to Jeff Williams thanks to the release of RWBY volume 4 soundtrack which has a couple top tunes and is a great album overall. Sabaton also cracked 100 plays which is impressive, I wanted to prepare for seeing them live and it worked perfectly for memorizing lyrics. I saw them on Thursday (29th) and they were amazing. I also saw Haloo Helsinki, which just missed the list, along with couple other great artists. And since the last three are on the list constantly I’ll instead mention Smokey Joe & The Kid which I discovered recently and really liked, I’m especially liking their song mister nice guy and recommend checking it out.

Songs

1,132 different tracks, top 5:

1. Parkway Drive – Vice Grip, 21 plays. Pretty much just a great metal song I was addicted to at the beginning of the month, on June 2nd alone I listened to it six times.

2. Jeff Williams – Let’s Just Live, 20 plays. A highly addictive song that I love, along with the next song this is my current favorite of RWBY v4 soundtrack. That usually changes every couple months after the latest release so we may see more from this soundtrack.

3. Jeff Williams – Armed And Ready, 19 plays. I pretty much just queued these two back to back whenever listening to these, so I’m just going to say that this song too is highly addictive and awesome. Also a great punny name, which I totally missed at first (this won’t make any sense if you haven’t seen the show).

4. Pain – Black Knight Satellite, 15 plays. Another great metal song. This one was described as conspiracy metal when I first heard it and the lyrics definitely back that up. Chalk up another one on the list of genres that should totally be a thing because of one awesome example.

5. Beartooth – In Between, 13 plays. This one has a great and I mean great chorus. Not sure if this counts as metal or rock but who cares, very summery song in my opinion so get it while it’s hot.

5. FamilyJules – Live And Learn, 13 plays. Sonic soundtracks are notoriously good, or at least a meme at the moment so what’s better than an awesome metal cover of an already great song, can’t think of many things personally. Either way Jules shreds some serious shreddage on this shred-fest of a tune, wow that’s a sentence.

Other stuff

I already mentioned Sabaton but I can’t overstate how hyped I was during it. First row is definitely the way to go when injecting metal to your ears. They played White Death, Soldier of Three Armies and Talvisota, their Finland related songs and the crowd was wild, I also have to mention that the intro to Swedish Pagans was indescribably awesome. This further proves to me that Swedish music is the best kind to experience live but if you were unsure about that and have a chance, go for it. Since I already mentioned Smokey Joe & The Kid I’m done for now.

Total plays

2,271 – which translates to roughly 150 hours or a bit over 6 days. I had plenty of time just to listen to music which of course makes me happy. Now if only I would also write stuff while chilling.

Artists

562 different artists – Looks like over 500 is a number that can be expected monthly now, it seems like a lot to me but it’s also really cool. Here’s the top 5

1. Paramore – 93 plays

2. In Flames – 63

3. Arctic Monkeys – 56

4. Logic – 49

5. Anti-Flag – 47

5. FamilyJules – 47

Well this wasn’t even close. Paramore, thanks to their new album and general awesomeness, was my number one band last month. In Flames continue to beat Arctic Monkeys on the list but in fourth we have our first rap artist. I’ve been listening to Logic’s​ latest album a ton lately and it’s no surprise he’s on the list. A-F and FamilyJules beat some regulars to make the list. I’ve switched from watching Jules’s YouTube videos to listening to them on Spotify and since last.fm only tracks those for me it got him a spot on the list.

Songs

1,063 different tracks – surprisingly that’s more than last month.

1. Paramore – Rose-Colored Boy, 33 plays. Where to begin with this song? I love it. Still my favorite song from After Laughter. I’m so glad that Paramore is back, even if they don’t sound like the Paramore I’ve gotten used to listening. I already talked a bit about this in my last blog but the lyrics are oddly relatable, odd in the sense that rather than singing them myself I could imagine people I know saying stuff like that to me.

2. Logic – 1-800-273-8255, 29 plays. This was easily my favorite track from Everybody. The name of the song is the number for national suicide prevention line in the United States and the song deals with some heavy stuff. I thought it was well made, the message is clear but it’s so much more than that as well, meaning you can listen to it just to appreciate the music.

3. Haloo Helsinki – Beibi, 24 plays. Oh look, a Finnish song, that’s a first. Somehow I managed to miss this gem when it was on the radio three(?) years ago. I love the guitar riff, it’s simple and catchy and it compliments the chorus. Also this song is super catchy which is (almost) always a plus.

4. Paramore – Hard Times, 17 plays. Two Paramore songs? Yes, that’s how much I liked the album, this was actually already released in April which got me properly hyped for the album. I’m not sure if I’ve said this enough yet but the album is worth a listen, wait I have said this already? No. Way.

4. FamilyJules – Life Will Change, 17 plays. Yay for video game music! I haven’t heard the original nor have I played Persona 5 but this metal cover by Jules is just incredible shredage (totally a word) for 3 minutes and 26 seconds. This is also the first instrumental song on the list which is an honor (ha, right) I’d expect to be reached by Jules if anyone.

I’ve been listening to full albums in the past week, which is something I do shamefully rarely. I really really liked Paramore’s new album After Laughter released last week, I liked the first single they put out but it didn’t get me super hyped about the album so I was pleasantly surprised. I recommend giving the album a listen, I found Rose-Colored Boy very relatable in the sense that I could picture someone saying the lyrics to me, not sure whether that says more about me or some of my friends. It’s also my favorite from the album (at least right now) so enjoy it:

Another album I enjoyed, which I actually haven’t heard all the way through just yet, is Logic’s Everybody. It was also just released a couple of weeks ago. It’s been a while since I listened to a rap album I liked so this was a refreshing change. My favorite from this one is a bit less relatable for me than the last one but probably more so for a lot of other people, I’d give it a listen even if you aren’t into rap.

Here’s for a more active month of blogging *crosses fingers*. Although I didn’t really update the blog in April, I did listen to a bunch of music.

Total plays

2,120 – Somewhere around 133 hours or five and a half days. The first half of the month I didn’t listen to as much music but seems like the second half made up for it.

Artists

584 different artists – which is the most for a month so far, cool. Once again let’s dive into the top 5.

1. In Flames – 72 plays

2. Arctic Monkeys – 64

3. Jeff Williams – 57

4. A Day to Remember – 45

5. Anti-Flag – 35

The three month (probably a lot longer unrecorded) reign of Arctic Monkeys has seen its end. In Flames takes the top spot, it was a pretty metal heavy month for me, led by the Swedes. Jeff Williams makes a return after not making the cut last time while ADTR is starting a streak. Anti-Flag is one of my all time favorite bands so it’s kind of surprising that this is the first time it has made the list.

Songs

I listened to more different songs last month than any other so far this year – 1,022. Interestingly enough there’s a three way tie for the top spot.

1. A Day to Remember – All sings point to Lauderdale, 20 plays. This song was a Spotify suggestion for me in late March and it was my favorite new song to listen to in April, hands down. It has the ADTR energy you’d think it would which results in a mood boosting tune.

1. 30 Seconds to Mars – The Kill, 20 plays. This is a blast from the past, it was actually on the same list of suggestions from Spotify as All sings point to Lauderdale but I was very familiar with this one from (checks Google) 2005. You could say it had been a while, it totally holds up if you’re wondering.

1. Amon Amarth – Twilight of the thunder God, 20 plays. Remember when I said it was a metal heavy month led by Swedes for me? It wasn’t just In Flames, this song is a melodic death metal masterpiece and I can not recommend it enough if you like metal music.

4. Stone Sour – Through Glass, 19 plays. Another song that I had kind of forgotten about. This song was pretty often the last one I listened to each day because it felt fitting so often. I recommend singing along to this one because it’s both doable and a ton of fun.

5. 3 Doors Down – Believer, 17 plays. This one is pretty much just a fun rock song with a great riff that also falls in the category of songs I heard a long time ago, it seems like that kind of a month. It’s also less than three minutes which makes it very replayable.

5. Owl City – Rugs from me to you, 17 plays. Did I say that a less than three minute song was replayable? How about a song less than 90 seconds? I’ll answer that myself: you won’t realize how many times you can listen to this in a row just to enjoy the cleverly punny lyrics coupled with upbeat tunes.

Other random stuff

The number of plays for the top songs and artists were lower than before which was due to the larger number of different artists/songs than usual, I’m a fan of variety so I like that. I started tracking what I listen to on Spotify via Last.fm on December 16th last year, I passed 1000 different artists recently (last week I believe) which, being someone who likes milestones, I thought was really cool.

As you may have noticed I haven’t posted anything in about a month. I’ve honestly been really unproductive and spent a lot of time just lying in bed and thinking about what to think about. Needless to say that this song has been played a fair amount of times in that month.

It’s finally starting to feel like spring which calls for spring music. That being said let’s dive into what I listened to last month.

Total plays

2,200 an average of 70 a day, which is approximately 144 hours or six days. It’s a bit less than last month despite three extra days which I’ll chalk up to time spent studying without music in the background, I tend to focus too much on the music if I listen to any while reading or studying.

Artists

505 unique artists. Some new faces on this list which is always exciting.

1. Arctic Monkeys – 63 plays

2. A Day to Remember – 62

3. In Flames – 55

4. Neck Deep – 47

5. Ghost – 40

ADTR got oh so close to dethroning Arctic Monkeys but they hold on to that honor at least another month. Although the plays were fairly close to last month’s total, Arctic Monkeys dropped a bunch in plays which I find interesting. Neck Deep has my all time (meaning since I started tracking this mid-December) most popular song but it’s the first time they have been on the artist list. Also, Ghost beat two Finnish bands which were at 39 each and would’ve been the first Finnish ones on the list.

Songs

899 different songs, most of them were great and here were the greatest, at least in terms of times played.

1. Neck Deep – Gold Steps, 31 plays – that’s a lot of plays. I can’t for the life of me remember how I found this song which bothers me, I don’t think it was recommended to me by anyone. This song was motivation for me to get through my finals as well as insuring me that life would go on no matter the result of said finals. I listened to it 5 times almost in a row after my biology final and another 5-ish before math, let me tell you something: if you’re ever feeling down put this song on, crank up the volume and things will start to look brighter.

2. Children Of Bodom – Oops!…I Did It Again, 30 plays. So yeah, this was an addiction of mine last month, I was surprised to see that Gold Steps beat this but I guess this one kind of dropped of after finals came. I already wrote more about this one in my post about covers which you can check out via this link if you want to.

3. A Day to remember – If It Means a Lot to You, 27 plays. This might be the best song I discovered last month, when I wrote about Paranoia I thought about ADTR and figured I liked all of their songs which I had heard and decided to listen to their top track on Spotify since I hadn’t heard it before. Instantly fell in love with it and if you only listen to one of the songs I mention in this post (you should check out all of them) I recommend this one. By the way each of the top three songs this month had more plays than last month’s number one.

4. Jimmy Eat World – A Praise Chorus, 18 plays. This song also falls to the category of motivation before and after finals. I don’t know what I would’ve done without these songs because the stress was killing me before some of them, this one was especially calming and definitely helped me perform better.

4. Leslie Odom Jr. – Guns and Ships, 18 plays. Another month passes and another Hamilton song finds it way to my list, it’s always surprising for some reason and it’s also always a different one although I don’t go out of my way looking for new Hamilton songs. What can I say though, I love Hamilton – never seen any of it mind you but I’ve heard plenty and this is one of the best it has to offer.

4. Saint Deamon – No Man’s Land, 18 plays. Crowded fourth place last month. This one was a slow burn, I had to listen to this one a few times before making up my mind whether or not I liked it. After hearing it as one of Spotify’s weekly recommendations I thought it was pretty good and put it on a list where I have songs that require another listen before deciding their fate. Eventually it earned an upgrade to the big leagues aka to my main playlist and well here it is now.

Random related thoughts

Dear Maria, Count Me In by All Time Low didn’t make the cut for top songs this time or in February but there was a 30 day period during those two months where I listened to it 26 times so it deserves an honorable mention. A Day to Remember had four songs in the top 25 while Arctic Monkeys had none. The two Finnish bands which I mentioned almost made the artist list were Children of Bodom and Haloo Helsinki! I have a feeling they’ll make an appearance in the future, though maybe not on that list. Oh and I didn’t forget about the picture thing, I just didn’t really take pictures last month.

I love a good cover so I figured why not share some of my current favorites.

Starting with one of my favorite discoveries from last year Steve ‘n’ Seagulls are a Finnish cover band whose style I love. They turned a punk rock song to bluegrass with great success. I love hearing covers that are completely different from the original song and this one definitely is. I actually like this more than the original but their style might not be for you.

If that’s the case maybe you’ll enjoy this one…

Sticking with Finnish bands but essentially making a U-turn in terms of cover style. Pop songs turned into metal are a rare treat and even more rarely do they sound this good. I had no idea I needed a metal version of Oops I did it again before hearing this but holy cow do I love it. I’m honestly not too familiar with Children of Bodom but I’ve tried getting into them after hearing this masterpiece.

This might be my favorite of the bunch. A super chill kalimba version of a pop-punk song with a cute dog in the video too, unfortunately it’s only 50 seconds long.

The original version of this is probably the only Justin Bieber song I like and this high-energy rock version is even better. This guy has a bunch of great covers, mashups and such on his channel so if you like this one I’d suggest checking it out.

Memes, right. Love ’em or hate ’em they pretty often touch on music. I’m not a huge fan of the 7000 different meme versions of a song, but using dog barks to recreate Feel Good Inc.? That I can get behind.

It was pretty difficult to pick this song, I knew I wanted to show a Luna cover but didn’t know which one. Kind of wanted to go with Feel Good Inc. but you probably know why I didn’t.

Okay so this is a medley and not a cover per se but it’s amazing anyway. I love video games and video game music so I couldn’t not include it. It’s pretty long but it’s definitely worth watching.

And it’s never been as evident as yesterday when I had Guns and Ships from Hamilton and Lone Digger by Caravan Palace suck in my head. Sure those aren’t exactly traditional rap songs but you’ll be hard pressed to find faster vocal parts than lone digger’s chorus, seriously, ’round the rhythm’ is a tongue twister even when you aren’t singing it 100 miles per hour, not to mention Lafayette’s parts in guns and ships. Love both songs but the amount of practice necessary to sing along to them is insane.

Hopefully I’ll have more time for writing after next week and I can post something with a bit more time and effort put into it but hey, the songs are amazing despite the post being short.

I’m not the greatest at staying on top of new releases by even my favorite artists but in 2016 I did a bit better job than usual. While A Day To Remember doesn’t make my list of favorite artists I like them enough to give their new stuff a listen when they release it.

I heard this song in November, two months after the album’s release, and it without a doubt makes my top five songs from last year, possibly top three. My friends know just how addicted I was to this song, the day after hearing it for the first time I got told to shut up a few times because the chorus is so amazing I couldn’t stop singing it. Ironically there’s a part which goes “and no matter what you do about it, I’m still in your head”, I had no idea the song was self aware. The whole song is super energetic which makes it perfect for days you want to get stuff done, although there is a slight risk of it derailing your day by being the only thing you can think of.

The music video for the song is pretty cool and I also really like their album covers, especially homesick and bad vibrations, you could hang those on your wall.